


Housing Dispute

by JD_meister



Series: Unconventional Interests [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: F/M, Minor Character(s), watch out Kiran he found out you're an artist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 12:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17043638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JD_meister/pseuds/JD_meister
Summary: Narcian has been inducted into the Order of Heroes. It is barely the first week and already he is having problems with other people.





	Housing Dispute

General Narcian of Bern had a problem, one he thought he would never suffer through. In all his life and service to his mother country, he had his own countryside manor to reside in. Whilst working in Embla under Veronica’s service, she had the decency to give him private quarters in the castle, which he did _not_ have to share with anyone else, but under Kiran’s employ in Askr, he quickly found out that this would not be the same case. 

"I'm Bartre—warrior type, if you can't tell.” The stranger thumped his own chest with massive fists and flexed equally large arms. “Bwaaah! Yaahhh! How'd that sound? Burly ‘nough for you?"

Narcian stared, dumfounded, at this strange man whom he was assigned to be ‘roommates’ with. _No. Absolutely not._ He rotated stiffly on his heels and left the room, ignoring this Bartre’s complaints and pleas to stay. This would not stand. It was outrageously absurd! What idiot decided that this would be a good idea?!

### 

“C’mon kiddo, it ain’t that hard.”

In a training yard not far from the castle stables, Sully cantered around on her horse, waiting for Kiran to mount her own horse. She was supposed to be teaching the Summoner the ways of horse riding – Sully did not realise that included the bare basics as well.

“Oh, easy for you to say. You’ve prob’ly been riding horses all your life.” Kiran grunted and made another unsuccessful attempt to get on the saddle. “Not all of us had stables to play in growing up,” she wheezed.

“Please, allow me.” Virion said, swiftly and gracefully stepping forward and offering a helping hand onto the horse. Upon hearing how Sully would be on teaching duty today, he offered to be the ‘glamorous assistant’ as Kiran had put it. Seated safely atop the chestnut coloured mare, Kiran gave her thanks to him. 

“Can’t believe you’ve never rode a horse before.” Sully chimed, manoeuvring with natural ease to Kiran’s other side.

“Welcome to my world.”

As Sully began demonstrating and pointing out the finer points to riding a horse, Virion spied a different individual approaching. “Ah, I believe one of our newest wishes to converse with you Kiran.” He took gentle hold of her horse’s bridle so it was less likely to startle. Sully rode back to her side. 

A pink flurry of fabric and armour was indeed incoming and looking rather upset to boot. Kiran sat patiently atop her mount and waited to see if Narcian would explode in some form of tirade as others claimed he was prone to doing.

“You there! Kiran!” He flung his arms around with every gesture, reminding Kiran somewhat of a bad videogame’s ragdoll mechanic. “I require your immediate assistance!”

“Oh really, what with?”

“Where to begin?!” Another flailing gesture. “The oaf that seems to believe he is sharing a room with me, the fact that one such as myself has to share quarters at all with anyone, quarters which, by the way, are completely inferior for one of my status. Oh! They are much too far from the wyvern grounds, how could I ever reach my dear Adonis in any decent time? Really, it is most inadequate.”

Kiran hummed with a hand pressed to her chin, thinking of a solution. When none presented itself she straightened up in the saddle. “Sorry Narcian, I don’t have anything to do with housing heroes. I haven’t been here that long; parts of the castle are still a mystery to me. I just bring you all in and get youse sorted for battle and all.”

Narcian tutted and flipped his immaculate hair. “Well, who would have control over such a thing?”

“You could try Anna, up in her office. She’s in charge of everything. She should be able to help you out.”

With a _hmph_ and a flourish of his cape, Narcian turned on his heels and stalked back through the grounds without saying a word to anyone. 

“What an arse.” Sully muttered, not completely under breath. Virion gave a mocking gasp. “Sully!” 

“What?! It’s true!”

### 

_“I’m in charge of most things here, but not accommodation.” Anna hummed and drummed her fingers. “I’ll tell you who can help you – our castellan. This is his area of expertise. I would say look in his office but half the time he’s roaming the halls like a man possessed by his work. He’s dutiful like that.”_

Following an unsuccessful meeting with the Commander, Narcian found the beleaguered castellan stalking through one of the west wing corridors, a small band of servants, messengers and heroes doggedly following him. 

A man of stooped stature, with greying hair and eyes glued to the bundle of parchments in his arms, he appeared to be ordering and conversing with about three different people at once. Not content with following at the back of the pack, Narcian quickened his pace to reach his side and push aside everyone else. The man barely glanced from his papers at him.

“Yes, what is it? What do you want? I’m a busy man, don’t have all day.” The castellan spoke in such a rapid staccato that Narcian could not help a sense of bewilderment as he tried to form a response. “Speak man!”

“Don’t interrupt me!” Narcian spat. “I’ve been told that you’re the man to talk to about arranging accommodations for me.”

“Talk to the Summoner. She keeps bringing all you people here. I can’t be expected to do everything. Too many people here now.”

A vein twitched in Narcian’s forehead. “Don’t you know who I am?! I am-”

“No. Don’t care to. Unless you’re the errand boy with today’s copy of the war report. Otherwise I don’t care.”

“Why, you insolent-“

“Oh, get out the way man, I’ve more important things to do than listen to this!” Someone, Narcian had no idea who, shouldered him out the way and began his own dialogue with the castellan, who was still marching determinedly to wherever his destination was. His small entourage continued to trail him.

Feeling strangely idiotic, Narcian elected not to follow. Did no-one ¬here know who he was or care for his problems?

### 

Following his accumulated failures, Narcian returned to his shared room, currently devoid of noisome warriors, and sulked for the rest of the day. When Bartre eventually returned that evening, Narcian tried his best to ignore him, but the man was determined to get some form of conversation out of him.

“You’re a quiet one, aint’cha? Nothing wrong with being shy, I got plenty of stories to share.”

Internally and externally, Narcian rolled his eyes. This was an insult, an outrage! The mere thought of a General of his calibre being made to share quarters with- with- Narcian didn’t even know who this other man was supposed to be!

After exhausting a seemingly endless supply of war tales and heroics that quite frankly paled in comparison to Narcian’s, and an almost equal amount of gushing about his daughter, the man had finally gone to sleep. For a brief period everything was peaceful, the way all private quarters should be, in his opinion. The quiet coaxed Narcian closer to sleep, the pillows yielding and the sheets wrapping him up in a pleasant cocoon of warmth.

And then Bartre started snoring.

Narcian could have exploded. He quietly seethed, silently and half-heartedly plotted to smother Bartre in his sleep just to get some peace and quiet. It would do him no harm – Narcian had heard rumours that Kiran could bring back those who had fallen in service to Askr, surely it would still work here. He peered over to where Bartre was asleep, then thought better of it. It did not feel prudent to be thrown out of the Order in his first week, as was sure to happen. 

He sat up. Sleep was clearly not going to arrive anytime soon. In the absence of anything better to do, he twirled a golden forelock around his fingers and thought. How best to fix this situation? He became so deep in thought that he drifted off almost into meditation. Then Bartre gave an especially loud snore and jolted Narcian from his daze. Fuming, he thumped his pillow with a closed fist and cursed whoever set this arrangement. The Summoner, the Commander, or the castellan? Who was to blame for his lack of beauty sleep? 

Grabbing his sheets, pillow and clothes, he marched straight out of the room, though several halls and sets of stairs, and right up to Kiran’s door. Her quarters were the only ones out of the three culprits he knew where to find, having been quizzed on his skills there just days prior. He thought briefly about how best to handle this delicate situation – then hammered loudly on the door. He kept knocking even after the occupants of some of the other nearby rooms opened their own doors, faces all thoroughly disapproving and half asleep.

The door finally wrenched open. The onlookers shrunk back into their rooms. 

“What in the name of hell do you want?”

Kiran looked a far cry from her usual white and gold trimmed self; hair ruffled and rumpled bed clothes with an expression that could kill the will of lesser men. Her voice was level but thoroughly irritated. Of course, _Narcian_ was not intimidated by it. He had been through numerous bloody battles and come out singing. One tired tactician was nothing in comparison, he hoped.

“Well?”

Narcian took a deep breath and tried to control his ire. “I request private accommodations for myself, free of any ‘roommates’.” He said, his voice polite and strained.

“Shove off.” Kiran eloquently replied.

“Now look here!” He jabbed a finger in her face. “Don’t take that tone with _me_ , Narcian! It’s a perfectly reasonable request and I don’t understand why you’re all making this so difficult!”

She brushed his hand away and crossed her arms with a huff. “Well I, _Kiran_ , have already told you, I don’t make living arrangements here.”

“Do _you_ snore?”

The question seemed to throw her for a loop, for she only continued to stare blankly at him. “No…?” She said, slowly.

“Then I’m sleeping in here.” Narcian replied, promptly barging past Kiran and into her room.

“What?! Hey!”

“Do you have a better suggestion?”

“Yeah! Sleep in your own room!”

“Aha, but it’s not _my_ room, now is it? And since you won’t give me my own… That Bartre fellow snores so loudly I’m surprised the rest of the garrison isn’t kicking your door down to complain.”

In spite of Kiran’s continued protests, Narcian made himself comfortable on her chaise, having first removed what he assumed where her books and parchments notes from his desired bed. In the darkness it was difficult to tell exactly what he was moving. He could hear Kiran huffing and sighing as she returned to her own bed. Evidently, she was too tired to properly protest his presence. 

“Good night Kiran!” Narcian called cheerily into the darkness.

“Yeah, yeah, night to you too.” Came Kiran’s yawning reply.

### 

Narcian slept very well that night. It was quite easily the best sleep he had since first arriving in Askr. He didn’t anticipate the impending wake-up call sleeping in the Summoner’s room entailed. At precisely 9:30 in the morning, an awful noise jarred Narcian from his slumber and he made a most ungraceful noise, startled as he was. He fumbled for a weapon that was nowhere to be found. Across the room, a small patch of bright light illuminated part of Kiran’s face. She didn’t appear to be thrilled either at being awoken.

“Summoner?”

“Hh?”

“What is that?”

“It’s nothing.” Kiran said, as the light disappeared. Narcian could hear her stow something away in a bedside drawer. Nothing indeed. There was more rustling from her area of the room before a pair of curtains were opened and sunlight flowed in. Narcian watched her briefly before she disappeared behind a folding screen. With the Summoner occupied and with proper light now, Narcian could finally see for himself exactly how his new leader lived.

A carved wood bed sat on the opposite side of the room from him, flanked by dressers on one side and the screen and tables on the other. Narcian could hear Kiran rustling behind the screen. Her sword lay atop one of those dressers, resting in a leather-bound scabbard. Where her other, more oddly shaped weapon was he could not see. 

Her work desk, no doubt laden with war strategies and other countless papers of little interest to his half-awake state, directly opposed the main doors, but of greatest interest to him was the space behind him and the chaise – the equivalent of what could at least be half a small artist’s supply store lined the wall; spare canvasses propped up on easels and other furniture, pots of ink, paint and pigments of countless colours stacked everywhere, and more parchment than he believed any one person could use in their lifetime filled every shelf space not taken up by books. Every inch of surface space was occupied and Narcian was surprised that the sheer volume of material hadn’t overflowed into the rest of the room. He strained through the low light to see exactly what had been painted upon the closest canvasses. 

The sound of boots against the floor forced his attention away. Kiran had re-appeared from the screen, fully dressed in her familiar white and navy ensemble, the gold trimmings glinting in the light. She opened the rest of the curtains and finally turned to Narcian, still lounging in her room in his night clothes. 

“Get dressed. Don’t worry, I won’t look.” She gestured vaguely to the screen before taking a seat at her desk. Yawning and stretching Narcian followed her suggestion – out of his own free will of course, not because she was his superior officer now. When he came back out again, Kiran was writing away at her desk. As he approached, she held out a note to him. “Here.” Narcian took it and waited for the explanation. “Give that to Anna, maybe then she’ll do something for you ‘bout your rooming.”

Narcian stiffly nodded his thanks and began to leave. Just as he reached the door, her voice called out to him. “Wait. I’m coming with you.”

Narcian rolled his eyes. “I _know_ the way to the Commander’s office, Summoner.” He said with a sneer.

“I never said you didn’t. I just want to make sure she actually does something once you give her that.” Kiran rose from her desk and joined him on the walk to Anna’s office.

### 

“I understand your concerns General, but as I already explained, it is the castellan who arranges these matters. Not I.”

Narcian rolled his neck with an exaggerated sigh. “How convenient. Your man told me a similar thing, pointing me in the Summoner’s direction, who in the beginning had herself suggested I find _you_. An irritating loop to be caught in.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Truly, you are all useless.”

Anna restrained her irritation. “Now there’s no need to be like that. I am sure that we can come to an agreement that satisfies all parties.”

Still managing to lounge gracefully in one of the uncomfortable chairs in Anna’s office, Narcian twirled a lock of hair around in his fingers. “I sincerely hope so. I would hate to see my future performance suffer from so trivial a matter and affect my work here, and after all that effort the Summoner went into persuading me this would be a worthwhile venture. It would be such a shame to let us down like that, _Commander_.”

Anna smothered another look of irritation under her hand, unwilling to put up with a smarmy ‘hero’ so soon in the day. Kiran also hid her expression under her hand, but only because she found the situation too amusing. Seeing the Commander put under the pressure for once was a rare opportunity after all. She feigned concern for the Anna’s part to at least give the impression she was on her side. Narcian continued to twirl his hair as he awaited her decision. Anna looked to Kiran, who only shrugged. 

With a sigh, Anna finally conceded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

At once, Narcian clapped his hands and rose, beaming, “Excellent! I just knew you would see reason! I shall have my things prepared for moving, I’m sure my ‘roommate’ will be most understanding.”

With the natural conclusion of their meeting, the two of them left the Commander to her work. Outside the office, Kiran whistled a short note and turned to Narcian. “Breakfast?” She asked, after a moment. Narcian hummed in agreement and they set off towards the mess hall. As they walked, Narcian remembered the mess of assorted canvas, paints and other art supplies lining the wall of the Summoner’s room. With such a stockpile to hand, they surely must have some degree of ability in the arts. “So,” he began, as they walked, “you are an artist?”

“Artist in training, yeah. Self-taught for the most part.” Kiran sighed. “I try to do as much as I can but being stuck in the middle of a war isn’t terribly helpful.”

“Indeed. T’is a noble pursuit I must say! I have much respect for artists, some of my favourite people are artists!” Narcian began gesturing again. “Such fine works they make. I keep quite the collection at home. You should see it someday. The collected beauty is enough almost to rival me!”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, truly! I collect a variety of works, but portraiture remains my absolute favourite!”

Kiran quirked a brow. “Would those be portraits of yourself, I assume?”

“Not only myself! My relatives also, and my wyvern of course. Not that he cares about such things, but he is a fine, beautiful beast and it is only right that he be commemorated through the arts as well.”

“Indeed.” Kiran mumbled in agreement.

“I couldn’t help but notice your collection of materials this morning. Though I hadn’t the chance to admire them at the time, I should very much enjoy viewing your works, if you are amenable to the idea?”

She seemed somewhat embarrassed at his request, her reply hesitant. It was almost endearing to him. “Well, I suppose I could show you the stuff I’ve done some time. I’ve got a lot to do today, strategy and whatnot, but how ‘bout tomorrow or something?”

“Of course! I will be readying my possessions today anyway, but please, call upon me whenever you have prepared your work.”

“Yeah, no problem!”

They fell back into silence once more but Narcian could not help but grin. He was finally getting his way again _and_ he had potentially found a new artist to wind around his finger. That they were also his superior was practically icing on the cake. With enough flattery and some quality fighting on the battlefield, he would be clawing his way up the Order’s ranks in no time.


End file.
